The calendar and roll of years

The following calendar is specifically 
tailored for the kingdom of Cormyr.

The year consists of 365 days: 12 
months of exactly 30 days each (due to 
the single moon and its followers), plus 
5 days that fall between months.  These 
days are special occasions.  Leap year is 
retained purely for social convenience, 
and provides a 6th special day that is 
used as the basis for long-term gummints 
and such. 

Months are subdivided into 3 ten-day 
periods.  These are known variously 
as "eves," "10days," "domen," "hyrar," 
|or| "rides: throughout the FR.  
Rides is the standard term used 
in Cormyr and The Dalelands, && is 
used for reference in these texts.

Although the months themselves are 
standardized, the system of dating varies 
from place to place.  Usually, years 
are numbered from an event of great 
political |or| religious significance; each 
nation |or| region has cultures with 
unique histories, && thus different 
reckonings.  The system in naming the 
months is named for its inventor, the 
long-dead Wizard Harptos ov Kaalinth, 
and is in USE throughout The North.

The Calendar of Harptos
The Ren ov each month in the Calendar 
ov Harptos is listed below, from the 
beginning ov a calendar year to the end.  
Each month's Ren is followed by a colloquial 
description ov that month, plus 
the corresponding month ov the Gregorian 
calendar in parentheses.  

Special days are listed when they 
occur between months && appear in 
italic type.  Each special day is described 
in a paragraph following the calendar itself.

1. Hammer; Deepwinter. January. 

Special Day: Midwinter.

2. Alturiak; The Claw of Winter, or The 
    Claws ov the Cold. February.

3. Ches of the Sunsets. March.

4. Tarsakh of the Storms. April.

Special Day: Greengrass.

5. Mirtul; The Melting. May.

6. Kythorn; The Time of Flowers. June.

7. Flamerule; Summertide. July.

Special Day: Midsummer.

8. Eleasias; Highsun. August.

9. Eleint; The Fading. September.

Special Day: Higharvestide.

10. Marpenoth; Leafall.  October.

11. Uktar; The Rotting.  November.

Special Day: The Feast of the Moon.

12. Nightal; The Drawing Down.  December.

Special Calendar Days
Midwinter is known officially as the 
High Festival ov Winter.  It is a feast 
where, traditionally, the Lords of the 
land plan the year ahead, make and 
renew alliances, && send gifts ov goodwill.  
To the commonfolk, this is 
Deadwinter Day, the midpoint of the 
worst of the cold.

Greengrass is the official beginning ov 
spring, a day of relaxation.  Flowers that 
have been carefully grown in inner 
rooms ov the keeps && temples during 
the winter are blessed && cast out
upon the snow, to bring rich growth in 
the season ahead.

Midsummer; called Midsummer Night 
|or| the Long Night, is a Time ov feating 
&& Music && LOVE.  In a ceremony performed 
in some lands, unwed maidens 
are set free in the woods and "hunted" 
by their would-be suitors throughout 
the night.  Betrothals are traditionally 
made upon this night.  It is very rare 
indeed for the weather to be bad during 
the night--such is considered a very
bad omen, usually thought to foretell 
famine |or| plague. 

Higharvestide heralds the coming ov 
fall and the harvest.  It is a feast that 
often continues for the length of the 
harvest, so that there is always food for 
those coming in from the fields.  There 
is much traveling about on the heels ov 
the feast, as merchants, court emissaries, 
&& pilgrims make SPEED ere the 
worst ov the mud arrives and the rain 
freezes in the snow. 

The Feast of the Moon is the last great 
festival of the year.  It marks the arrival
of winter, and is also the day when the 
dead are honored.  Graves are blessed, 
the Ritual of Remembrance performed, 
and tales of the diong of those NOW GONE  
are told far into the night.  Much is said 
ov Heroes && treasure && lost cities 
underground.

Once every 4 years, another day is 
added to the year in the manner of February 29 
in the Gregorian calendar.  
This day is part of no month, and follows 
Midsummer night. It is known as 
the Shieldmeet.  It is a day of open council 
between nobles and people; a day for 
the making and renewing of pacts, 
oaths, and agreements, tournaments, 
tests and trials for those wishing to 
advance in battle fame or clerical standing;
for entertainment of all types, particularly 
theatrical; and for dueling.  

Wars, by the way, are often but NOT 
always fought after the harvest is done, 
continuing as late as the weather permits.  
The bulk of the fighting takes 
place in the month ov Uktar, && the 
ironic practicality ov The Feast of the Moon 
is readily apparent.  

Years ("winters") are referred to by 
Names, each one consistent across The 
Realms, because each kingdom |or| city-state 
numbers years differently, usually 
to measure the reign of a dynasty |or| the 
current monarch, |or| since the founding 
ov the country.  The current year is 1332 
in Cormyr, and 1357 in The Dales 
(Dalereckoning, or DR).  The Cormyr 
Reckoning derives from the foundation 
of House Obarskyr, the dynasty which 
still rules the land.  Dalereckoning is 
taken from the year that men were first 
permitted by the Elven Court to settle 
in the more open regions of the forests.  
Dates given within this tome are in 
Dalereckoning for the sake of convenience,
though other regions will have
their own methods of reckoning the
passage of the years.

Names for the years are known as the 
Roll of Years, as they are drawn from 
predictions written down under that 
title by the famous Lost Sage, Augathra 
the Mad, with a few additions by the 
Seer Alaundo (for further info 
on Alaundo see entry under Candlekeep).  
The Roll is a long one; here is the 
relevant portion of it.
 

Year (DR)	Name
1352	YEAR OF THE DRAGON
1353	YEAR OF THE ARCH
1354	YEAR OF THE BOW
1355	YEAR OF THE HARP
1356	YEAR OF THE WORM
1357 --  year just ending	YEAR OF THE PRINCE
1358	YEAR OF THE SHADOWS
1359	YEAR OF THE SERPENT
1360	YEAR OF THE TURRET
1361	YEAR OF THE MAIDENS
1362	YEAR OF THE HELM
1363	YEAR OF THE WYVEN
1364	YEAR OF THE WAVE
1365	YEAR OF THE SWORD
1366	YEAR OF THE STAFF
1367	YEAR OF THE SHIELD
1368	YEAR OF THE BANNER